The emotional moment between Tim Walz and his 17-year-old son, Gus, has sparked a flood of admiration and support, but it has at the same time provoked ugly incidents of bullying on the internet.
The emotional moment between Tim Walz and his 17-year-old son, Gus, has sparked a flood of admiration and support, but it has at the same time provoked ugly incidents of bullying on the internet.
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The emotional exchange between Tim Walz and his teenage son, Gus, has sparked a wave of praise and approval, but it has at the same time provoked ugly bullying attacks on the internet.
Gus Walz, who has a nonverbal learning disability, as well as anxiety and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), looked on eagerly from the front row of Chicago’s United Center and sobbed openly on Wednesday night as his father, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, delivered his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention.
The Minnesota governor was sharing the challenging fertility journey he and his wife, Gwen, went through to have their daughter, Hope.
Walz followed up by expressing his love for his family from the stage, stating, "Hope, Gus, and Gwen, you mean everything to me. And I love you."
Gus Walz rose from his seat, with teardrops streaming down his cheeks, pointed his finger and exclaimed, “I love you, Dad.”
The touching moment between father and son, captured live by TV cameras, quickly spread online and has largely been received adoringly on the web and across media outlets.
Fox News shared a clip of the touching moment on its TikTok account, writing "Gus Walz steals the show during dad's acceptance speech." The comments were mostly positive.
“I hope to inspire my children so much that when they see me speak about the dreams and passion I have for my country, they cry with emotion like Gus Walz did,” posted Chasten Buttigieg, husband of Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, on X.
“@Tim_Walz has dedicated his life to service and has clearly succeeded in being an outstanding, supportive, and caring father every step of the way, ” he wrote. “We should all be so fortunate to know a love like that.”
U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who addressed the audience before Walz on Wednesday night, commended the bond between Walz and his children.
More: Who is Gus Walz and what does having a non-verbal learning disorder mean?
“You know you’ve done well as a parent when your kids are as proud of you as Gus and Hope are of Tim Walz,” she wrote on X. “'That’s my dad.' No three other words better describe our future vice president. ”
Actress Mia Farrow added: “Gosh! When young Gus Walz, cherished son of Gwen and Tim Walz, his face streaming with tears of pride, exclaimed 'That’s my dad!' he won my heart. ”
Critics ridicule Gus Walz as a 'puffy beta male'
But the show of affection provoked a wave of sarcastic and nasty comments from online trolls, many of them supporters of MAGA, of former President Donald Trump, who is running against Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and Walz in November.
Right-wing columnist and provocateur Ann Coulter ridiculed the teenager’s tears. “Talk about weird, ” she wrote on X. The post has since been deleted.
Mike Crispi, a Trump supporter and content creator from New Jersey, mocked Walz’s “stupid crying son” on X and wrote, “You raised your son to be a puffy beta male. Congrats.”
Alec Lace, a Trump follower who hosts a podcast about fatherhood, took his own swipe at the teenager: “Get that kid a tampon already,” he said, in an apparent reference to a Minnesota law that Walz passed as governor requiring educational institutions to offer free menstrual products to students.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel mentioned that Jay Weber, a conservative radio host in Milwaukee, made a post on X criticizing the Walz family, now removed.
"If the Walzs represent today's American man,
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